Welcome to the Taxcast – the Tax Justice Network’s monthly podcast: up to 30 minutes of the latest global news and analysis on tax havens and corruption you won't hear anywhere else.

Joining us are experts in the field to help us analyse the top stories each month. It's available to everyone for download and broadcast. If your favourite radio station's not playing it, ask them why not? Produced by @Naomi_Fowler

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In this month’s Taxcast: we look at the United States, Trump’s tax reforms and the killing of the American Dream. Plus: as we see yet another school shooting, should the powerful National Rifle Association continue to be a tax-exempt, non-profit organisation? And we discuss ongoing state-capture in Malta as the European Banking Authority investigates Pilatus bank, the subject of murdered journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia’s investigations. Can the Malta Financial Services Authority possibly be ‘fully equipped and free from conflicts of interest to perform its supervisory duties’?

In the January 2018 Taxcast we explore the results of the Tax Justice Network’s Financial Secrecy Index just out, that tell the real story of global corruption. We look at the top ten worst global offenders, discuss the 4 key geographical political poles: the Far East, Europe, Britain plus its cluster of satellite tax havens, and the United States. And we discuss what countries can do independently and as regional blocs to defend themselves against the threats to their economies from offshore secrecy jurisdictions.

In the December 2017 Taxast: We speak with Jake Bernstein about his new book ‘Secrecy World’ – we ask what makes offshore players like Jurgen Mossack and Ramon Fonseca tick, and what do the Panama Papers and now the Paradise Papers tell us about Presidents Putin, Trump and the transnational oligarchy? Also we analyse Tax Haven USA’s tax reforms set to turbo-charge inequality in a country with weak gun controls, the EU’s disappointing tax haven blacklist and how the race to the bottom on tax between nations won’t stop at 0%.

In the November 2017 Taxcast: we discuss the latest offshore scandal, the Paradise Papers with one of the journalists who got the scoop, Pulitzer prize winning Frederik Obermaier of Suddeutsche Zeitung and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. We also interpret the enquiries to Jersey from offshore lawyers looking for a new tax haven for Apple which they’d rather had remained secret, look at the anti-democratic processes the Paradise Papers uncover and ask – what now for tax justice?

In the October 2017 Taxcast: we look at the booming business of passports and residency for sale, and why it should worry us all. Also, even the IMF now advocates wealth taxes to combat inequality, yet governments around the world – most recently President Macron of France – are going in the opposite direction despite all the evidence that it’s a bad idea, we discuss how Russia and the US are now world leaders in inequality, and the good news that the European Commission has ordered Luxembourg to claim back $293 million in taxes from Amazon in another ruling on illegal state aid.

In the September 2017 Taxcast: we look at our over-reliance on unhelpful economic measures like Gross Domestic Product and how it constrains us. Also: we discuss hurricanes, tax havens and disaster capitalism; and the bitcoin bubble – China may be closing its doors on it for the moment but tax havens like Switzerland are very interested…

In the August 2017 Taxcast: #10yearsafter the crash we ask – what will the next one look like? Can we avoid it? Also: Panama Papers fallout – another Prime Minister bites the dust, this time in Pakistan, the offshore law firm Mossack Fonseca has closed 39 of its 45 offices around the world, a UK court ruling spells the end for ‘employee benefit trusts’ being used by footballers to minimise their tax bills, and Bank Of England Governor has predicted Britain’s financial sector could double in size in the next 25 years. Has he not heard of the finance curse?

In the July 2017 Taxcast: we explore Land Value Tax and the billions in revenue we’re missing out on. Plus: Tax Haven USA signs up to potential sanctions and blacklisting of the few nations still refusing to comply with international financial transparency rules, which would er, include itself as the world’s prime offender. Did Team USA read the small print? And will the G20, OECD and the EU really blacklist one of the world’s biggest economies? Also, at last, Members of the European Parliament vote for public country by country reporting for the world’s biggest companies – but a last minute amendment was tabled…

In the June 2017 Taxcast we ask – has the UK just had its first tax justice general election? Are we seeing a popular shift towards tax justice in the UK and in the USA? Is this the beginning of the end to our long austerity winter? How much do people REALLY care about taxes, who pays them and who doesn’t?

In the May 2017 Taxcast: We talk to film director Michael Oswald about his new film The Spider’s Web: Britain’s Second Empire. Listen for details on how you can see the film. Also, we discuss booming Sweden’s ‘reverse-Trumpism’: its economy grew almost twice as fast as the US last year – and it wasn’t achieved through cutting taxes. Plus: the Russian Parliament is considering sweeteners that would accelerate Crimea’s progress along the tax haven and secrecy jurisdiction route.

In the April 2017 Taxcast: the Panama Papers, one year on – we talk to the journalists who got the scoop. Plus: we discuss the raid on Credit Suisse, and new data exposing the profit shifting shennanigans of the EU’s biggest banks.

In the March 2017 Taxcast: the high price we’re paying for our finance sectors – we look at staggering statistics showing how the US finance sector is a net drag on their economy. Also, as the British government initiates Brexit divorce negotiations to leave the EU, we discuss something they ought to know, but obviously don’t – they’re actually in a very weak position. Could it mean the beginning of the end of the finance curse gripping the UK economy?

In the February 2017 Taxcast: how financial transaction taxes can protect us from finance sectors dragging our economies down. Plus: we discuss the Swiss referendum – taxpayers refuse to pick up the tab for corporate tax ‘reform’, what does that mean for one of the world’s biggest tax haven players? Also, President Trump’s valentine gift for kleptocrats and the extractives industry as he repeals anti-corruption regulations – the criminal race to the bottom is on. And, the influence of dark money, the experts in distorting democratic debate and the results of the 2017 Transparify report.

In the January 2017 Tax Justice Network podcast: We look at efforts to hit tax dodging companies where it really hurts on a local level – trying to stop them bidding for public money for public contracts. Also, how massive amounts of money are flowing into Tax Haven USA to circumvent the flawed Common Reporting Standard – South Dakota is apparently raking in tax evading capital. We discuss the slippery world of ‘residence planning’ and the ‘synthetic residency’ dodge. Plus, we discuss the UK’s Criminal Finances Bill likely to be passed this year, which includes proposals for ‘Unexplained Wealth Orders’ and holding tax evading enablers to account. An amendment to the bill could force UK satellite tax havens, the overseas territories to create public registers of the real owners of companies, something they’ve so far refused to do. And finally, we consider the British threat to the EU ‘if you give us a bad Brexit deal, we’ll push regulation-lite, tax haven UK even further in a race to the bottom.’

In the December 2016 Tax Justice Network podcast: In trusts we trust? We look at the new game in town: beneficial ownership avoidance, the booming industry in alternative escape vehicles from public registers and why we must shine the spotlight on all of them. Plus: we discuss two big stories we think will define 2017: the race to the bottom between nations on tax aka a transfer of wealth to the corporate community, and how the world’s biggest havens are increasingly having to account for the devastating effect their tax and/or financial secrecy policies are having on human rights around the world…

ABOUT US

We are an independent international network launched in 2003. We conduct high-level research, analysis and advocacy on international tax; on the international aspects of financial regulation; on the role of tax in society; and on the impacts of tax evasion, tax avoidance, tax 'competition' and tax havens. We seek to create understanding and debate, and to promote reform, especially in poorer countries. We are not aligned to any political party.